Meeting With The People

When we visited the water project at Manazary, the Fokontany (village) President invited to his home for "cocktails". He is the one in pink, on the right, proposing a toast with Fanta orange soda. Let the feast begin! French fries, rice, chicken and crackers.

At the feast, they explained the tradition that the oldest person at the feast must eat the chicken "butt". Elder Bird was singled out and reluctantly complied with tradition.

We are pictured here with the Commune Mayor of Ambohitrambo, the Fokontany President and the water committee of the village of Ambohibary-Malaza. We had just finished signing the working agreement with the village and the contractor for a clean water project there. Everyone is happy and in a festive mood. This is one of the truly enjoyable times of our mission.

Water Project - Manazary

The construction of one of the first water projects, that we have developed from the beginning of the process, is under way. This shows the storage reservoir construction with the newly poured concrete still in the forms, along with the work crew.

We visited the construction site at the remote village of Manazary. After a two hour drive on rough dirt road, we walked about one hour through rice fields and over a stream to get to the village and construction site. The construction crew, consisting mainly of local volunteers, is doing the trenching work from the reservoir tank to the spring captor. Note the lady on the left. She was probably the hardest worker of the crew.

"A lift up....not a hand out." That is our Humanitarian motto. Here, Sister Bird is greeting an 85 year old man who was resting beside a hay stack near a new water fountain station being built as part of our water project.

Within one month, this fountain will be flowing with clean fresh water from a mountain spring high above the village. This old man was so excited about this new water fountain. He told us, through our interpreter, that he had never imagined that he would ever see such a nice thing as a clean water fountain near his home in his lifetime. He and his ancestors have always existed on water carried from a distant stream or the rice fields. He is one of very few in the country that ever live to be this old. This project, and many others just like it, are being carried out all over the developing world through the LDS Humanitarian Services. We truly appreciate all the generous people throughout the world who donate to the Humanitarian program of the Church. Our funding has been cut this year due to the downturn in the economy. This is one of the lucky villages we were able to help. Many others will have to wait for another year. We have barely scratched the surface of this critical need in the Country.

Trip to Johannesburg, So. Africa

We attended the Southeast Africa Area Humanitarian Conference, July 7th to the 9th in Johannesburg. This was a wonderful time and came at the midway point of our mission. It was very educational and also refreshing to be in a first world country, if only for a short time.

The high-light of the conference was our trip to the Johannesburg Temple. A great re-charging of the batteries for the final 9 months in Madagascar.

The historic Sunnyside Park Hotel is where we stayed and met during the conference. This Hotel was origionally built in 1895. As you can see, it is dead winter in So Africa, with all the leaves off the deciduous trees.

South Africa Safari

This handsome Baboon seems to be the watchman for the rest of the clan, on the ground nearby.

This is our very capable and friendly guide, Henry, at the entry gate to Pilanesberg National Park.

The "Blue Wildebeest" sports a nice pair of horns and is also a favorite table fare for the Lion.

"Sleeping Beauty". We could not wake up these Hippo's for a photo shoot, so we had to go with this shot. We think maybe this is "Gloria", co-star of "Madagascar".

South Africa Safari

This is quite a fearsome little creature, the Warthog. He will vigorously defend his territory against all intruders. We nick-named him "Cary Grant" because of his extremely handsome looks.

The "sky scraper of the bush". We think this might be Melman, co-star of "Madagascar".

One of the "big 5" of Africa, the White Rino was a very impressive sight. He didn't seem to be too concerned with our presence.

A handsome Zebra. He is one of the favorite food sources of the Lion.

We Like Birds

Our safari to Pilanesberg National Park rewarded us with seeing almost as many different beautiful birds as animals. This is the Crimson Shrike, which is about the same size as the Black bird at home.

The Grey Lorrie is a very noisy bird. His cry seems to be saying, "go away". Hunters in Africa hate this bird, because they seem to alert the nearby animals of danger.

The Lilac Breasted Roller is an amazingly beautiful bird with seven different colors of feathers. The natives here believe if he lands in a tree in their yard, it will bring bad luck, or that lightning will strike their house.

The Yellow Billed Hornbill. This is the talking bird in "Lion King". The Hornbill also comes with a grey or red bill. They are quite photogenic.

Sister Bird and Naomi

Sister Bird just can't pass up the chance to hold babies. This is little Naomi (the Malagasy Naomi), the three month old daughter of our guide and assistant, Gaby. Aren't they precious?

President and Sister Gaya

Today, President and Sister Gaya departed for their home in New Calidonia via France after three years of faithful service. We were sad to see them go, but were also happy for them. They have really worked hard and deserve a vacation and some rest.

Antsirabe School For The Blind

This is payday!!! Welfare Services purchased twenty braillers for the Antsaribe School for the Blind. Here we are at the school for the official turn-over ceremony. This is a project we have been working on since the day we arrived in Madagascar. We met with much difficulty getting them shipped in from So. Africa and through customs. The Lord Mayor of the Commune of Antsirabe (the lady) and the Director of the school are accepting the machines. The braillers are used to create braille documents on special paper. They will be used to help the students learn braille and create braille documents.

These little blind children just melted our hearts. This side of the isle is the boys. They and their teachers were so excited to finally get these machines. They have been waiting for over a year for this day. What a blessing it was for us to feel of their sweet spirits.

This is the girls side. It brought tears to our eyes as they sang a song of gratitude to us. They really put their hearts into it. We know how much Jesus loves the handicapped, especially the blind and also how much he loves children. We could really feel his love for these truly lovable and special children.

This is indeed a happy day for all of us. Pictured with us is the School Director and the Commune Mayor Olga Ramalason.